PHILADELPHIA – After Asante Samuel lost the coin flip calling ‘tails’ Sunday, Andy Reid deferred his choice to receive until the second half.

That was stunning in itself. It was the first time in 46 games the Eagles’ head coach had not taken the ball after winning the flip.

There was a method to the madness.

The Eagles have a dreadful first-quarter offense. Including their humbling 30-17 loss Sunday to the Atlanta Falcons they’ve been outscored 40-7 in first quarters. The deficit is 87-38 in first halves.

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If you’re not going to put the self-scouting research to work, why bother? So Reid deferred until the third quarter, where the Eagles are at the top of their game this season. They’ve out-gunned the opposition 38-13 in the frame. And oh, well, it didn’t work.

The Eagles scored on the first drive of the second half but the field goal didn’t help much as they were behind 24-7 at the intermission.

The Falcons scored on six straight possessions starting with the opening kickoff. One of those drives matched the Eagle burst as they answered with a field goal of their first possession of the third quarter.

The decision to defer was symbolic of what has been a season of over-thinking and over-reacting by Reid, his coaching staff, the front office and the players.

Following the dreadful loss to the Falcons, who looked like they could be a dynasty the way they were gutting the Eagles in the first half, a very frustrated and oddly disconcerted Reid unwittingly summed up the entire season going off on a tangent after expressing disappointment with the defense and newly appointed coordinator Todd Bowles.

“Talking about it isn’t going to get it done,” Reid said. “We’ve got to do it. We didn’t do it today.”

Talking about it has the Eagles lugging a 3-4 record to New Orleans where they take on the struggling Saints in the deafening SuperDome.

Michael Vick suspects Andy Reid will make a change at quarterback, which most likely would have rookie Nick Foles taking over.

A loss in the Big Easy and Reid is going to come back to Lincoln Financial Field for a game against Dallas. Would Eagles fans cheer that opponent hoping it would accelerate a decision by owner Jeffrey Lurie to go in another direction?

Right now the Eagles are rowing in 53 directions, not including the coaching staff and the player personnel staff. Amid the chaos after the beating by the Falcons were questions about playing for Reid’s job.

“That is not anything we decide,” wide receiver Jeremy Maclin said. “I love Coach Reid to death. Every time I am going out there I am giving 100 percent, regardless of whatever else is going on.”

Almost to a man, Eagles players believe they still can turn the season around. Of course the first player who doubted they still could bounce back would be out the door in a second.

For the Eagles to play so poorly coming out of their bye week is as dramatic a shift in karma as was Reid’s decision basically to kickoff in the first half. Unless Reid is going with the onside kick, he always takes the ball. He’s an offensive coach, you know?

“I am surprised,” tight end Brent Celek said after the loss to the Falcons. “I thought we would play better than that. I know we can play better than that. These last few weeks we have been playing bad football. We have to flip the switch and turn it around.”